Police-recorded shoplifting offences hit 20-year high

Shoplifting has soared to the highest level since records began with almost half a million offences recorded last year, shows new figures amid retailers' warning that thieves are becoming "bolder" and ‘more aggressive".

According to the ONS' Crime Survey for England and Wales, published today (24), a total of 469,788 shoplifting offences were logged by forces in the year to June 2024, up 29 per cent on the 365,173 recorded in the previous 12 months. The figure is the highest since current records began in the year to March 2003.

Shoplifting levels had already reached a 20-year high earlier this year, with the latest figures showing the number of offences recorded has now risen even higher.

Responding to ONS data, ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “We are hearing the right messages from government about reporting and investigating crime and applying effective penalties. Sadly, this is entirely at odds with our members’ experiences of policing in communities up and down the country. Local shop owners and their colleagues are becoming quite sick of assurances from politicians, they want a response when they are put at risk and for criminals to be apprehended and sanctioned effectively.

“These figures should prompt a redoubling of efforts from everyone involved in tackling shop theft: retailers reporting crime every time, the police investigating every offence and identifying prolific repeat offenders, and the courts system applying effective penalties that aim to break the cycle of re-offending.”

Data from ACS’ Voice of Local Shops Survey which tracks levels of theft in the convenience sector have shown that theft has been increasing every quarter since mid-2021, reaching new record highs toward the end of 2023 and then breaking that record in the first half of 2024. The ACS Crime Report estimates that convenience retailers have recorded over 5.6 million incidents of theft over the last year.

Last month the Co-op revealed it had taken a £40 million hit from shoplifting in the first six months of the financial year amid an “epidemic” of crime.

In its first Kings Speech earlier this year, the government set out initial details of its Crime and Policing Bill, which promises to "introduce stronger measures to tackle low level shoplifting", as well as introducing a separate offence for assaulting a shopworker.

The data published today (24) comes in the wake of major retailers raising concerns about the rising cost of theft and as the government pledged to tackle low-level shoplifting and make assaulting a shop worker a specific criminal offence.

More details on the Crime Survey for England and Wales are available here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/crimeinenglandandwales/yearendingjune2024